119 



MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA. 



In the quietness of night it is soothing and tran- 

 quiUizing to stand and observe the play of the Moon 

 on the waters, especially when they are in a state of 

 calm, or only partially disturbed by some slight and 

 local currents of air. 



From an eastern point of the Sound, at an early 

 hour of the Night, the scene is most effective ; then 

 the light is resting on the crowning trees of Mount 

 Edgcumbe, while the whole broad eastern face of 

 that peninsula seems a mass of shadow, perhaps made 

 more eminently obscure by a speck of red light gleam- 

 ing from the stern windows of a man-of-war in Barn- 

 pool, although every part of the vessel herself is 

 completely invisible. There are sounds that steal 

 upon the passive hearing, but none which can disturb 

 the depth of contemplation. A low and continuous 

 but not unmusical sigh floats towards the shore from 

 the distant channel ; the regular stroke of deliberate 

 rowers may guide the eye to a small boat moving 

 slowly land-ward, like a short black line upon the 

 surface • and though the form of the singer beinvisible, 

 a sweet female voice, one of some returning party of 

 pleasure, may be recognized afar off in the wildly 

 pathetic strains of the Canadian boat song, " Soon as 

 the woods on shore look dim. " 



Immediately under Mount Edgcumbe, and extend- 

 ing apparently close to its roots, the rippled surface 

 has an appearance like dim frosted silver, a long 

 sheet of light in repose, extending over the bridge of 

 rocks perhaps half-way to St. Nicholas' Island, its 

 outline in some cases being suddenly and sharply 

 marked by black shadow, and in others beautifully 

 softening and blending into darkness ; the still and 

 uniform appearance of this illumination may arise 

 from distance as well as from the rapid motion of the 

 wavelets, producing an effect of amalgamating several 

 small, quickly-moving lights into one, as the pris- 

 matic colours by celerity of rotation become har- 

 monized into a whole. 



